A special type of connector for joining a heavy carrying wood member such as a glulam and a carried wood member having different depth dimensions is commonly known as a hinge connector. Hinge connections typically occur at the intersection of a carrying post member and a carried beam member or a cantilevered carrying beam and a carried beam. The connector evolved from a rhomboid shaped member having parallel side, a seat and a top flange joined by welding the separate members. Later a hinge connector evolved being constructed from a pair of U-hangers inverted and joined at their edges. The seat of one U-hanger formed the seat for carrying the carried member and the seat of the inverted U-hanger formed the flange carried by the carrying member. As seismic considerations dictated that additional horizontal resistance be provided by the hinge connector, tabs were added at both the top and bottom of the side members providing bolt openings for insertion therethrough and into the carried and carrying members.
The hinge connector remained locked into the above described design both by code and engineering approval as well as by commercial acceptance even though the hinge had many shortcomings. The prior art hanger required too many parts, and too many welds resulting in an expensive connector to manufacture. The connector due to its evolving design resulted in a connector which took too much space to store in inventory and to ship. More importantly, the connector provided little torsional resistance even though torsional forces were known to occur in cataclysmic disturbances such as earthquakes, hurricanes and typhoons. In spite of the need for an improved hinge connector, the industry stayed with the old hinge connector.